fall: a poetic reflection

by Bob Neale

​As I bumped around in my morning routine, I noticed the sun shining its early light so much lower on the horizon. Glorious. Every year it seems that it is suddenly fall.  Not a slow coming round the corner day by day but a thump, a sudden change, a new scent in the air, the colors are different, a sudden chill. 
 
Summer is over. I love autumn, even though I’m not a fan of change. And that’s what it harbors — the closing of childish joys of summer vacation, a visceral hint at the darkness and cold to come. And that brief time in between is the absolute best time to be alive in California and in Sonoma County. 
 
Don’t you just want to shut down your computer and run out into the fall air and frolic in the poetry of the season? Well, that’s what we like to do here at Sonoma Land Trust — literally. Enjoy a few Haiku written by our stewardship staff to ponder over a tasty cup of joe. 

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Salt water returns
Gray harbor seal chooses bass 
In old field of rye
 
Julian Meisler

Sears Point. Photo by Peggy Ruffra.

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Streams are dry, waiting
Weather changing quickly now
Smell of rain comes soon
 
Trevor George
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Live Oaks Ranch. Photo by Stephen Joseph Photography.

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Bohemia Ranch. Photo by Stephen Joseph Photography.

​Noble oaks above
Stream trickles beauty below
Bohemia gold
 
Crystal Simons
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Dams out boulders in
Trees and pools and lots of bugs
Come back you old fish
 
Tony Nelson
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Stuart Creek Run. Photo by Lance Kuehne.

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From sea to the sky
Golden eagle soars freely
Nesting on the rock mountain 
 
Shanti Edwards
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Photo by George Eade

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Gold morning light pulls
On my heart, first chill, that scent
Summer slides away
 
Bob Neale
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Tolay Creek Ranch. Photo by Harvey Abernathy.

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​Bob Neale is Sonoma Land Trust's stewardship director.

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